Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WEWS

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WEWS

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WEWS

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WEWS

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CLEVELAND - Ohio taxpayers would fork over about $1 million to keep convicted rapist and kidnapper Ariel Castro alive in prison if he were to serve out his life sentence.

Cleveland-area residents reacted angrily to that price.

"The government doesn't give me that much money to live," said Don Hannaford, an Olmsted Falls resident. "And they're going to give a criminal that much money, that's pathetic."

Hannaford is retired and said he watches every dollar and cent.

"It's a Godsend that he took his own life," added the 66-year-old.

Castro hanged himself Tuesday in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio with a bed sheet, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.

Samir Elnahass, who manages the famous Slyman's Restaurant on St. Clair, agreed.

"I'm glad we don't have to pay that anymore," Elnahass said.

The daily cost to house and feed an inmate at Castro's prison is $68.43. At that price, it cost taxpayers $25,000 a year to provide for an inmate at that facility.

"The cost of holding, housing inmates per day is all of the daily necessities he needs in terms of food, accommodations, bedding," said James Chriss, a professor of sociology and criminology at Cleveland State University.

Chriss said the daily cost of housing an inmate is on the rise.

"It's better that he's not in prison and we're not paying those tax dollars anymore," said Nicole Studeny, a North Ridgeville resident who wants to see those tax dollars be put back into Cleveland.

"There's a lot of things around the city that need to be developed, there's education," she added.

Education is also where Hannaford wants to see his money go. But for now, he's content with the news of the day.

"Let's face it, we were paying for him. Now we don't have to pay for him," he said.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.